Zynga Mobilizes First Strategy Combat Game in 12 Languages

SAN FRANCISCO – May 31, 2011 – Zynga Inc. Zynga today announced the global launch of Empires & Allies, including more social features than any Zynga game. Debuting in 12 languages, Empires & Allies is the company’s first strategy combat game, a new genre for Zynga, and the company’s first title to be launched out of Zynga’s Los Angeles studio. Empires & Allies will be available on June 1, 2011 in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Indonesian, Turkish and Traditional Chinese – and for the first time, Malay, Korean and Norwegian.

Set on a sprawling multi-island game board, Empires & Allies integrates familiar game play elements from popular Zynga titles into a story-driven combat crusade. Players aim to build a thriving island-nation by arming themselves against enemy forces and preparing for battle. Throughout the game, players will build army units, recruit friends, and encounter helpful allies and unique villains as fight their way across enemy-held territories on the quest to defeat the final villain.

“Empires & Allies is strategy combat gone social – think CityVille meets Risk,” said Amer Ajami, executive producer of Empires & Allies at Zynga. “We’re focused on bringing our players a new form of entertainment and a strategy game is definitely a new playground for us. Play is in everyone’s DNA, and this game lets you have fun and get creative by choosing your own destiny, building a nation and eventually, conquering the world.”

As nation leaders, players strive to build powerful empires and expand to new islands, while getting play-by-play tips from Scarlett, a personal military advisor. Empires & Allies also introduces 30 characters that help guide play and reveal plot secrets along the way.

Empires & Allies features include:

Building an Empire Feared by his allies and hated by his enemies, “The Raven” is an unapologetic tyrant who wanted his pet mascot to be an eagle, but he couldn’t catch one. In a tirade, “The Raven” has destroyed your empire. Once the rubble from the attack on your empire is cleared, build your empire’s population back up. Build island huts, cottages, houses and more to collect rent to fund your expanding empire.

Mobilizing Your Troops Get ready to fight “Captain Krunsch,” an old school seaman who relishes taking out his enemies the old-fashioned way–with his bare, arthritic hands. Build formidable ground, naval and air defense to protect your empire and beat those invaders back. Use Unit Research Laboratories to upgrade your armies and unlock new attack bonuses.

Fight With Friends! Sometimes the best defense is a good offense. Build up your troops, recruit your friends and send them out to invade in-game villains and advance the story line, or choose to invade your neighboring friends’ empires to collect Infamy Points. Strategically select from different ground, naval and air units to build your battalion based off their effectiveness against the opposing army. You might just want to unleash “Wingo,” a pilot who was born to fly – first class. His mama was a stewardess and his daddy made tiny pretzels for the airlines.

Guided Play As the nation’s leader, you must build up your empire’s defenses to ward off “The Raven” and his evil minions. Scarlett, your personal military advisor, will always show you fun things to try next to guide you on building a powerful empire. Scarlet keeps an eye on all military functions. She’s seen it all. She knows there’s no “I” in “team.” Despite her mysterious past, she has the respect of her troops, who eagerly shout “Aye aye!” to every one of her orders. Once tasks are complete, you can unlock increasingly advanced buildings and decorations.

Neighboring Empires Visit your neighbors’ empires to help them secure more energy, decorations and collectible items, gaining Honor Points along the way. Tending to your friends’ empires is a surefire way to speed up your progress and amass your army. Enlist your neighbors help in combat to quickly finish off your enemies with special attacks. And don’t forget to call on “The Admiral,” the most experienced fleet commander in the seven seas. His only limitation – his refusal to trim his eyebrows makes it harder to find the port. Or the starboard.

We already have a new mission to replace the Icing event that just ended. It is called “Crossing The Line”

You know the drill beg friends to help, burn energy and stamina to finish sections of it. While dont get me wrong I like some of these missions BUT we just came off a very busy event filled weekend. It would of been nice for a couple days break before they bog us down with another. Zynga just doesn’t get it. Oh well I get a better response from my dog so for now I will talk to my dog.

This is a almost 10 day mission so there will be alot to do on it. The loot items dont seem bad based on the first part and the grand prize is good too. But is it worth the time, energy & stamina to do it for items that will be obsolete in a couple of weeks. I will bring you more on it when the 411 comes out on it. So have fun everyone.

Zynga has hired Goldman Sacks to handle, what could be, one of the largest IPO’s in the history of Wall Street. The question of the day among potential investors & financial experts alike is whether or not Zynga is doing this just so they can make one get one final payday before they sell the company.

That seems to be the thinking of many unnamed sources close to this IPO. Many feel based on Mark Pincus’s history & time lines, with the companies he starts, that he is ready to move on. Also with all the major game issues, drop in players and revenues it is thought he is looking for a final payoff before the value is gone.

Zynga still remains the King of Social Gaming and many start up game companies have used Zynga as a model for their companies. While Zynga still has tremendous value in the market place, the shine with the company is dulling a bit. And now the potential underwriters are now looking closely at the numbers after some issues were brought to light to them that they say Zynga failed to disclose to them.

Zynga’s IPO will still be huge but it will not be nearly as big as the industry thinks, especially now that they are looking at the new information provided to them. They are now taking a very serious look at things and the valuation might now become much lower than what was first predicted.

It seems they were not told of the major drop in with the daily players and the potential revenue drop that comes along with it. An unnamed managing partner of Goldman Sachs has admitted that Zynga’s game Mafia Wars, while not the biggest game anymore, still does provide the most revenue out of all their games. He also goes on to say that Farmville is the game that is talked about most there and those numbers are dropping just as bad as Mafia Wars.

Some of the other financial industry people talked to about this IPO feel Pincus is just looking for his final payoff and feel the number on what this IPO will bring are really over inflated. They say the 10 billion valuation placed on this should really be around 2.5 to 4 billion instead based on all the data.

So it seems a Linkedin like payoff for Zynga is slowly disappearing according to the growing consensus but it will still be a huge IPO but will now force Wall street to look alot more closely to the all these new social gaming companies and even Facebook who is thinking of going public sometime next year.

Dont be surprised to see Zynga pull something out of their bag of tricks to help increase the value for the company as they are very good at that. I wouldn’t even be surprised to see them come out with a new game to pump up the numbers & help increase revenues thus increasing the valuation toward the potential Labor Day Weekend release of the IPO.

Zynga still makes great, addicting games and they truly do have value, even for a virtual game company. Even the film & music industry think so or they wouldn’t be doing all these promotions with them. Even with all the game issues and dropping player & revenue numbers.

So who are some of the potential buyers of Zynga if they do decide to sell after the IPO? I would look for Electronic Arts to be the front runner followed by Sony, as they have the deepest pockets and are building quite a big following with their games. Time will tell first we have to see what happens with the IPO.

We are getting another gift this Memorial Day Weekend from Mafia Wars. Hollow Point Bullets & Riot Shields are giftable until Monday. WOO HOO !!!

Zynga is really kissing some serious butt with us this weekend, I hope they have enough chap stick. Double Loot comes later tonight and now this. Gotta love it !!! Stock up on them while you can and remember you can only collect 200 per day from your free gifts but that doesn’t mean that those of you who have tons of them cant share them with your friends. We Like Gifts LOL.

Have A happy Memorial Day Everyone and remember to be safe out there and drink responsibly. Dont forget to take a moment to remember our troops this weekend. Hell Go to the parades in your town as show of support as well. They sacrificed for all of us the least we can all do is sacrifice a little time out of day for them. God Bless Our Troops !!!

Here is the X-Man Event 411 that explains the event better. If you want to see this for your self you can click HERE.

X-MEN First Class Event FAQ

Updated 05/27/2011 at 14:25

X-Men is coming to theatres on June 3, 2011, but you can get your first glimpse of the action here. Welcome to the future for an old school style of loot event with a few new twists and turns. This event will give players an opportunity to collect loot through jobs and fighting in the quest of the mastery item.

Q: When does this event begin?A: This event is scheduled to begin on 5/2611. As with many of our events, this event will be slowly rolled out to our players to ensure stability within the game. Due to the gradual release of this event it will not be immediately available to all of our players.

Q: Why are new events always released to a limited audience?A: When we release a new feature into the game, we want to ensure that it does not create instability and functions in the way that it was intended. Although we try to release it to the wider audience as quickly as possible, it is imperative that we make sure that it will not interfere with your enjoyment of the game.

Q: Can I manually be added this event if I contact Customer Support?A: Unfortunately our agents will not be able to manually add you to this event. The wider audience of players will be added in a gradual fashion and our agents do not have the means to expedite this process.

Q: On what date is this event scheduled to end?A: This event is scheduled to conclude mid-day on 06/02/11.

Q: What if I did not receive the event on the first day that it was released, will I be allowed any extra time to complete the event?A: This event is designed to be completed within a few days with standard amounts of game play. As with most of our events, we allow extra time within the event schedule to ensure that most players will be able to maximum their time and enjoyment of the event, and collect as many rewards as possible. Because these events are scheduled in advance, additional time can not be added to individual accounts and the event will conclude for all players at the same time.

Q: How will this event work?A: Players will collect 7 different loot items. There will also be two different boost items that players will be able to send as gifts.

Q: What are the boost items?A: The two boost items are Magneto’s Magnetism and Frost’s Diamond Form and they can be found on the gifts page:

Q: What is the Frost’s Diamond Form boost used for?A: This boost is used when a player loots and X-Men item from a fight. The boost is consumed giving the player two more of the looted item.Q: What is the Magneto’s Magnetism boost used for?A: his boost is used when a player loots and X-Men item from a job. The boost is consumed giving the player two more of the looted item.Q: How do I determine when the boost will be used?A: The boosts are used automatically, and will be applied when you find an X-Men loot item while completing jobs or fighting.Q: Do this boost items count towards the mastery collection?A: No. The boost are only for assisting your in fights. The do not count towards to the collection for the Mastery Item.

Q: Where do these items drops?A: These items will drop from jobs and from fights. For of the items will be found while completing jobs, while the remaining three you will be able to collect in fights.

Q: Is there a mastery to this event?A: Yes! When you complete your set of items you will receive the Mastery Item.

Q: What are the mastery levels?A: There are four levels of mastery that each player has the chance to obtain.

Bronze Mastery – 70/110

Silver Mastery – 75/120

Gold Mastery – 80/130

Ruby Mastery – 85/140

Q: What is the Mastery Item?A: The Grand Prize or Mastery Item for this event is Magento’s Helmet.

Q: Are these items tradable?A: Yes. Users can trade all 7 items and can collect up to 4 mastery items.

Q: Is the Mastery Item tradable?A: No. The Mastery Item cannot be traded.

Q: Can the boosts be tradable?A: No. The boosts can only be gifted, but they are not tradable.

Q: What happens when I have collected the final mastery item
A: After you have collected the final set of items needed, you will be rewarded the Ruby level of the Ultimate Prize.

Q: How do I keep track of what I have in my inventory?A: There is an X-Men inventory tab that is located on the missions bar. When you click this tab it will expand showing you the status of your items.

Q: How many of each item can I have?A: Players can keep up to 10 of each item after they have received the Ruby level Mastery Item. You can determine the number in your inventory by expanding the X-Men tab on the missions bar.

Q: What happens if I find more than 10 of an item?A: When you have more than ten of any item in your account a timer will start. This timer gives you 30 minutes to post these items to your feed so that someone can collect them.

Q: What will happen if the items are not posted before the timer expires?A: The items will be removed from your inventory if you do not post them in time.

Q: Will i get any type of credit for the extra items that I do not post in time?A: No. This is part of the challenge. The extra items must be posted within the 30 minute time frame or they will be lost.

On this Memorial Day Weekend please take the time from your BBQ’s and parties to remember those who have sacrificed so much so we can enjoy all the freedoms we have. Remember it is Memorial Day not just a 3 day weekend, Men & Women throughout our history have sacrificed their lives so we can have the freedoms we all live and enjoy. So God Bless Our Troops of yesteryear and of today and THANK YOU ALL !!!

So on behalf of our blog, The Facebook & Zynga Podcast, Social Network Radio we want wish all our veterans a very happy Memorial Day. You are always in our thoughts and prayers and we truly appreciate all you have done for us. We will never be able to pay you all back for all you have done so please accept our humble Thank You and God Bless each one of you.

I also am asking you all to please take a moment to leave a comment to our troops & veterans and their families showing your support and say thank You for all they are doing for us by visiting our Military Support & Tribute Page.

The X-Men have arrived in Mafia Wars right on schedule, Thursday.

So the new event is upon us and this is a pretty easy one too as it just goes along with regular game play. There are 4 levels of this bronze, silver, gold & ruby. Here is what the Official Mafia Wars Blog has put out on it and here is the rulles in the game graphic.

You can claim loot items though the game feeds as well but you have to be quick as they go quick. Also as you can see there are free gift boosts you can send to your friends to help them along the way. Plus it looks like we can do this event multiple times but i will wait for the 411 to confirm that.

The loot items are not that great but the mastery item is okay. Here is a list of the items and graphic is courtesy of the Mafia Wars Loot Lady.

So there you go very quickly as I have the flu but I will get you more info on the event as I do it. I know this is a real pain in the but for some people as there is 3 different events going on and I totally agree but at least this one is easy and we just have to continue to do our regular game play.

Well we all knew a new Boss Fight was coming and here it is, Eliminate Kassina Kunoichi. Basically the same as the last boss fight only new graphics & loot item.

Yes here we go again and an unusual Wednesday Release. But the good new is that all those consumables you collected from the last Boss Fight and had extras of count toward this one.

Here is the the the loot item you get as you go through each level.

Now there are those codes you need to do more damage and here they are and the good thing is the 3rd code is the same and is already unlocked.

So there you have it another Boss fight unfortunately you will have to hunt down these items again if you dont have them and the crack the bats don’t drop very well but the rest do fine.

From the looks of things with Mafia wars it seems we will be getting slammed with new things this week as The New X-Men event is coming too and we still have the icing event going on. And I have a feeling another thing is coming but I just cant confirm it. Plus there will be changes to the fighting coming too so I am just warning you all ahead of time. Please dont kill the messenger.

Thanks to the Irish Kid from the Mafia Wars Wiki for the images as I didn’t have time as I have the Flu.

UPDATE !!!

There will be no achievement or Mission on this one so now you know why the 3rd code is already unlocked. BTW here is the 411 on the event. Thanks to Jennifer The Mafia Wars Loot Lady’s hard work she got them to correct the errors on it and clarify it better.

Well Zynga is trying to be slick this time with the new event if we want a sneak peek at it. Yes I know this is lame but also fun at the same time LOL.

According to the Official Mafia Wars Blog this is what they want you to do if you want to find out the next event. Click the picture to go to their blog.

When You think you have the answer click the code and it will take you here.

You type in what you think the answer is and if you get it right it will give you a sneak peak of the upcoming event. If not it will tell you to keep digging for an answer.

I know you don’t have time for this crap don’t worry I got you covered. The code is Magneto and it brings you to some new loot items coming to the game later this week. Yes you guessed it it is another movie event to promote the upcoming X-Men movie opening June 3rd.

Here are some of the new loot items but we don’t have full details on the event yet but we can show you the items and where to collect them.

And here is the grand prize item.

So watch for this event coming soon and as we get more info on it you will get more info on it. And Thank You Mafia Wars Loot Lady for the images.

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I am gonna piss off alot of people with this so be prepared. I don’t not believe there should be gun control. I think better regulations and rules should be instituted but I don’t think guns need to be regulated. I believe guns should be taken out of the Walmart’s and K marts around the country […]